School Kids Signing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Hearing Impaired Custodian Is the Joy You Need Today [Watch]

A group of kindergarteners in Tennessee served up a precious birthday surprise for a custodian at their school who is hearing impaired. The kids at Hickerson Elementary School learned to perform "Happy Birthday" in sign language for James Anthony, and the school recorded his overjoyed reaction in a video that is going viral.

Hickerson Elementary posted the video above to Facebook on Tuesday (Oct. 23), showing the kindergarteners signing the sweet birthday message for Anthony, who was has worked in the Coffee County school system since 1991 and worked at Hickerson for 15 years. The clip shows Anthony's face light up as he realizes what the kids are doing, first bringing his hands to his head in apparent shock, then jumping up and down and laughing with joy as the children deliver the special birthday performance.

The teachers in the room accompany the children and sing along with them as they sign the words of the song, and Anthony repeatedly exclaims out loud in happiness as the adorable kids give him his birthday message, covering his hand with his mouth at the end of the song.

According to a separate comment on the school's Facebook page, the kids worked up the sweet performance to surprise Anthony for his 60th birthday. Allyssa Hartsfield and Amy Hershman's kindergarten classes learned how to sign the song with help from a teacher's aide named Shelly Lucas and Angela Ridner, the school nurse.

The too-sweet-for-words video has been viewed 185,000 times since then, and it's been shared nearly 2,000 times on Facebook, drawing interest from news outlets including People, CBS News, Fox News, CNN and the Associated Press.